This “How It’s Made” segment provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the manufacturing process for modern Walker Titan SF 4×5 large format cameras.

(via NSOP)

Here’s an interesting “How It’s Made” segment showing how optical lenses are made. Here’s a hint at why lenses are so expensive: slabs of optical glass cost up to $1000 for 2.2lb!

(via Reddit)

Digital Trends has published an interesting “inside look at what’s behind the little (but growing) lens-maker that could”, Lensbaby. You might be surprised at the relatively small size of the operation:

Lensbaby is located on Portland’s east side, in a popular yet quiet neighborhood. The headquarters neighbors family homes and local coffee shops, and does something that not very many offices do anymore: makes things. The entire team is made of up some 40 employees, 15 of them in production, working in minutiae with the disciple of devoted inventors. And while there are many things that make Lensbaby different than its competitors (or the closest thing to, given its very unique position in the market). “The main difference is the kind of people that are making the lenses,” says Strong.

Forget the factory: How Lensbaby creates its custom glass [Digital Trends]

Full disclosure: Lensbaby is a sponsor of this blog

This video offers a glimpse into how Schneider-Kreuznach LS lenses are manufactured for the Phase One 645DF camera body. In the past we’ve also featured videos showing Canon, Leica, and Voigtlander lenses being made.

(via New School of Photography)

Most people balked at the $100 price tag of LockCircle’s professional body cap when it was announced last month, but one thing is certain: manufacturing them is a lot more complicated than injecting some plastic into a mould. This behind-the-scenes video shows how the cap is crafted out of solid billett aluminum in 79 different steps. Ordinary plastic body caps should suffice for more DSLR owners, but perhaps the company will find customers among hardcore shooters who need the extra sealing for harsh environments.

You might have heard about Leica’s legendary manufacturing quality, but have you seen it? The company released this promotional video a couple days ago providing a behind-the-scenes peek into its production facilities.

(via 1001 Noisy Cameras)

Want to see how instant film for Polaroid cameras is made? How It’s Made recently paid a visit to The Impossible Project‘s factory in the Netherlands (purchased from Polaroid a few years ago) to give us a neat behind-the-scenes look at the processes that go into making the popular film.

Here’s an interesting video that walks through how the highly regarded — and fully manual — Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras is made at the Cosina plant in Nagano, Japan (jump to 2:30 to skip the intro). It’s interesting how each of the 10 aperture blades must be carefully set in the lens using tweezers.

(via Foto Actualidad)

This Science Channel “How Its Made” segment shows the manufacturing process for CCD semiconductors, which are the sensors found in many digital cameras. For the difference between CCD and CMOS, check out this How Stuff Works article.

We’re waiting for the day when someone makes this kind of video for how DSLRs are made, but in the meantime, here’s a neat “How It’s Made” episode by the Discovery Channel showing how Arri movie cameras are manufactured.